Charlotte office developers have been making plans for new buildings, and one or more of those projects is poised to break ground in 2014.

Developers such as Lincoln Harris, Portman Holdings and Trinity Capital have drawn up renderings for new Class-A buildings ranging in size from 175,000 square feet to 435,000 square feet as the market has tightened.

At the end of the third quarter, the office vacancy rate in Charlotte dropped to 15.7%, according to Karnes Research Co. In Mecklenburg County, only one Class-A building lists more than 200,000 square feet of space currently available for lease: the Maersk regional office at 9300 Arrowpoint Blvd.

With its lease of 400,000 square feet at Ballantyne Corporate Park, MetLife Inc. proved that the “field of dreams” approach to development can work. Barry Fabyan, senior vice president with The Bissell Cos., says that MetLife aside, the south Charlotte office park has continued to see solid activity. The diversity of options in various submarkets for corporate users will continue to be a positive for Charlotte, he says.

“People aren’t generally going to be shut out,” he says. “What is lacking is that brand new, shiny 250,000-square-foot building. Everybody is trying to get up to the start line to build new product, and we certainly are participating in that as well.”

Mark Ayers, managing principal with tenant representation firm Cresa, believes 2014 is shaping up to be a year of transition in the office market.

“I think there are enough big users out there looking for blocks of space that the build-to-suit market is going to be back in play,” he says. “If they want to consolidate, they don’t have any choice.”

Chase Monroe, market director for Jones Lang LaSalle, says companies with lease expirations in 2016 and 2017 are candidates for build-to-suit projects because new office development typically takes at least 18 months to construct. But some large tenants simply won’t consider build-to-suit projects.

“Some of our national clients, they’re picking markets, in part, on available real estate,” Monroe says. “We have a few (clients) that are going to look at build-to-suits, but we also have a few that will cross (Charlotte) off the list because we don’t have the available real estate.”

The last speculative office project announced here was Bissell’s pair of 10-story office towers, which broke ground in mid-2011. MetLife has leased the majority of the space.

Dustin Read, director of the center for real estate at UNC Charlotte, says the capital markets are still cautious about the risk involved in funding new development.

“I think the debt and equity markets will dictate when that speculative space should come online,” he says. “Lending has tightened up, preleasing standards are higher, and you just need more equity to do those deals. It’s more difficult for the developers.”

Lincoln Harris plans to break ground on a 240,000-square-foot office building in June at its Capitol Towers at Carnegie project in SouthPark.

The Charlotte real estate firm has partnered with The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on the development, which may explain why Chief Executive Johnny Harris doesn’t anticipate any financing challenges on the deal.

Harris is planning two buildings totaling 480,000 square feet at the site and says the first building will be going up with or without a signed lease. He feels confident about prospects for the space, and with nearly half a million square feet, he says the Capitol Towers could be a draw for the next big corporate relocation.